Streaming media

Streaming media is a way to watch videos, listen to music, or see other content on the Internet without having to download the whole file first. Instead, the content plays while it is being delivered bit by bit from a server to your device. This is different from downloading, where you have to wait until the whole file is saved before you can watch or listen to it.

People often use streaming for things like watching movies on demand, listening to music, or seeing live events happen in real time, just like watching television. Streaming can also happen between devices at home, such as sending music from a computer to speakers using Bluetooth.

The idea of streaming media became popular in the 1990s and has grown a lot since then. Today, most people use streaming services to enjoy music and videos, with many different companies offering subscriptions. Live streaming lets people see events as they happen, similar to live television broadcasts.

Etymology

The word "streaming" originally described special tape drives made by Data Electronics Inc. These drives slowly started up and ran smoothly across the whole tape, which helped save money by being slower to start.

Later in the early 1990s, the term "streaming" was used to describe watching videos on demand and live videos over internet networks. Companies like Starlight Networks began using it for video streaming, and Real Networks used it for audio streaming. Before this, video was often called "store and forward video," which was not the best name.

Precursors

Beginning in 1881, Théâtrophone let people listen to opera and theatre over telephone lines. This service ran until 1932. Later, the Telharmonium was created in 1897, and a service called Tel-musici worked in Delaware from 1909 to 1914.

In the early 1920s, George Owen Squier got patents for a way to send music and other signals over wires. This idea helped create Muzak, a way to play continuous music for businesses without using radio.

A service called the Telephone Music Service started in 1929 and lasted until 1997. It served 120 bars and restaurants in Pittsburgh. Customers would put money in a special jukebox, use a telephone on it, and request a song. An operator would find the song from a big library and play it, sending the music over the telephone line to the bar. Over time, they used different types of music records and later added CDs and tapes.

History

Early development

See also: Timeline of online video

People have tried to show media on computers since the middle of the last century. For many years, this was hard because computers were expensive and not very powerful. By the late 1980s and 1990s, home computers got better and could show pictures and sounds. But there were still problems. Computers needed enough power and fast connections to send and show media smoothly. In the mid-1990s, most networks were still too slow, so people usually watched videos and listened to music from their computer’s hard drive or CD-ROMs.

In the 1970s, some special machines were used to send data from airplanes and missiles. These early systems were the first to send data in a way that is similar to today’s streaming. In 1990, the first commercial Ethernet switch was made, helping computers connect faster and leading to the first streaming videos used by schools and companies.

Streaming only became practical when ways to make files smaller were invented. Without these, sending videos would need too much space and time.

Late 1990s to early 2000s

See also: Original net animation

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, more people got online, and their Internet connections got faster. This made it possible to watch videos and listen to music over the Internet at home or work. New rules and ways to send information helped this grow a lot.

One band, Severe Tire Damage, was the first to play live on the Internet in 1993. In 1995, RealNetworks showed a baseball game online. By 2000, companies were making websites with lots of videos to help businesses. Around 2002, a new way to send video online was created using Adobe Flash. In 2005, YouTube started, and it quickly became very popular for watching videos online.

Business developments

Xing Technology made one of the first products for streaming in 1989. Other companies soon followed, making new ways to send videos and music online. In 1995, Microsoft made a player that could show streaming media. Apple added streaming to its QuickTime program in 1999.

When the web grew very popular in the late 1990s, many new companies started offering streaming. RealNetworks became well-known, and other companies like Vivo Software and Starlight Networks also helped make streaming popular.

In 2000, a website called Industryview.com started one of the first big collections of streaming videos to help businesses. By the early 2000s, companies realized they could use streaming to advertise and talk to customers.

Streaming wars

See also: List of streaming media services

The term streaming wars started in the late 2010s to describe the fight between video services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV, and Peacock.

When Netflix started in 2007, it became very popular even without its own shows. It began making its own shows around 2013. Other companies also started making their own shows and stopped letting people watch old shows on other services. For example, Disney+ showed popular movies and shows like Frozen and Star Wars.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more people stayed home and watched TV, so the fight between these services grew bigger. By 2022, many thought the “streaming wars” were ending because people were not joining new services as much. Services started focusing more on making money than getting more users. In 2023, some services formed a group called the Streaming Innovation Alliance to work together.

Use by the general public

Thanks to better internet connections and powerful home computers, streaming media has become easy and affordable for everyone. Special devices for internet radio made it simple to listen to audio streams without needing to know much about technology. Music streaming became very popular, with the number of streams growing by 34% from 2022 to 2023, reaching 4 trillion streams worldwide.

Because multimedia files are large, storing and sending them costs money. To help with this, media is often made smaller (compressed) before it is sent or stored. With more people wanting high-definition (HD) content, new technologies like WirelessHD and G.hn were created to make streaming HD easier. Apps for streaming HD content are now available on small devices like tablets and smartphones for everyday use.

A media stream can be sent either live or on demand. Live streams are sent straight to your device without saving a copy. On-demand streaming saves the content to your device first and then plays it from there. On-demand streams are often kept for a long time, while live streams are only available once, like during a sports game.

Streaming media is also being used together with social media. Websites like YouTube let people chat, vote in online surveys, and leave comments during live streams. Streaming is also used for business and learning online.

The Horowitz Research report from 2017 found that 70% of people watched content through a streaming service, and 40% of TV viewing was done this way, which is double the amount from five years earlier. The same report said that Millennials streamed 60% of the content they watched.

Transition from DVD

The popularity of online movies had a big effect on DVD rentals. As more people started using streaming, DVD rental companies like Blockbuster lost business. In July 2015, The New York Times reported that Netflix was still offering DVD rentals to 5.3 million members, but this was a big drop from the year before. Their streaming service, however, had 65 million members. By July 2024, NBC News reported that RedBox, a DVD rental service that had been around for 22 years, would close because so many people were choosing streaming instead. Best Buy also stopped selling DVDs.

Napster

Music streaming is one of the most popular ways people use streaming media. Napster changed how people listened to music. It was a website where people could share MP3 files with each other. Napster started in 1999 and was created by Shawn and John Fanning, along with Sean Parker. Shawn Fanning said Napster solved a problem because people wanted to find music that wasn’t easy to get in stores.

Napster made it easy for anyone with internet to listen to songs without paying, which upset the music industry. Millions of people used Napster, and it caused problems on school networks because so many people were sharing files at once.

Music streaming platforms

Main article: Music streaming service

Even though music is no longer free to share, services like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music let people stream music by paying a monthly fee. Some services, like Spotify, also have a free version with ads. These services have helped the music industry grow again after losing money when people could get music for free.

There are many music streaming services, and they compete by offering different things, like special deals for artists and new ways to listen. In January 2025, Universal Music Group and Spotify made a new agreement to improve what listeners and artists can do.

COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic made streaming services very popular. In the UK, 12 million people signed up for a new streaming service they didn’t have before. Worldwide, over 1 billion people joined streaming services. In the first three months of 2020, nearly 15.7 million people signed up for Netflix.

The pandemic also caused more people to spread false information on streaming platforms like YouTube and podcasts.

Local/home streaming

Streaming can also mean playing music or videos at home using devices connected to the same network. Technologies like DLNA let devices share media with each other. People can also use special storage devices at home or software like Plex Media Server, Jellyfin, or TwonkyMedia to stream media.

Technologies

Streaming media needs good internet speed to work well. For watching regular videos, you need about 2 Mbit/s, but for higher quality videos, you might need up to 25 Mbit/s. This helps make sure the video plays smoothly without stopping.

Videos and music are made smaller in size so they can be sent over the internet faster. There are different ways to do this, and special formats help organize the audio and video before they are sent to your device. This makes watching videos or listening to music online easier and faster.

Applications and marketing

Streaming is useful for many things, like long video lectures online. These lectures can be very long and can be stopped or repeated at any time. Streaming also helps with new ways to share content. For example, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra sells live concerts online in their Digital Concert Hall using YouTube for trailers. These concerts are shown in cinemas around the world. The Metropolitan Opera in New York does something similar. There is also a livestream from the International Space Station. Popular video services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are now common ways people watch shows and movies.

Marketers have found many ways to use streaming, especially during the COVID lockdowns from 2020 onwards. While old ways of advertising like traditional advertising have gone down, digital marketing grew by 15% in 2021. Digital media and search now make up 65% of money spent on advertising. Streaming services help bring in advertising money by letting marketers use data from users to create personalized content. Tools like artificial intelligence help decide ad campaigns and when to buy ad space online. One way this works is through Real-Time Bidding (RTB).

Challenges

Streaming media can create some problems, especially with copyright laws. When people watch or listen to shows and songs online, it can sometimes copy the original work without permission, which hurts creators who depend on views or tickets for money.

Streaming also uses energy, which can affect the environment. Studies show that streaming music creates a small amount of greenhouse gases each year in the United States. While this is less than many everyday activities, it is still something to think about. Turning off video during online calls or choosing lower quality video can help save energy. Using renewable energy for data centers and downloading music for offline listening can also reduce the impact on the planet.

Main article: Greenhouse gas emissions § Digital services